ERC's Fair Trade

ERC's Fair Trade Program

The Edmund Rice Centre (ERC) promotes international economic justice through their “Fairtrade Project”, which applies the principles of fair trade.

• By buying and selling Fairtrade goods.
• By spreading awareness of issues involved in Fairtrade.
• By community education about Fairtrade in schools and communities.
• By providing and making Fairtrade products easily available to schools and other groups.
• By giving talks and/or workshops, on issues related to Fairtrade, to staff and students in our schools.
• By encouraging students, and so involving their peers, teachers and parents, to be actively involved in issues of social and economic justice related to Fairtrade in their school and local community.

ERC has actively been involved in buying and selling Fairtrade products, and has been supplying staff rooms of the larger Sydney schools with Fairtrade tea and coffee for some time.

In order to extend this service more widely to other schools and community groups, ERC has set up an simple mechanism for schools to purchase premium teas, coffee or drinking chocolate in the caterer’s pack bulk quantities. Included in the cost price, is delivery in any of the major cities of Australia or New Zealand.

The issues of Fairtrade awareness go beyond just and fair wages and helps create opportunities for economically disadvantaged producers.

• Fairtrade is a strategy for poverty alleviation and sustainable development.
• Fairtrade involves transparency and accountability, dealing fairly and respectfully with trading partners.
• Fairtrade is a means to develop producers’ independence. Fairtrade promotes gender equity, equal work and pay for women and men.
• Fairtrade organizations respect the U N Convention on the Rights of the Child, and work directly with producers to eliminate child labour.
• Fairtrade actively encourages better environmental practices and the application of responsible and sustainable methods of production.
• Fairtrade pays a premium to the growers’ community, and can enable the local community to decide how to allocate their returns - e.g. schools, medical centers, health care or farming equipment.
• Fairtrade, based on trust and mutual respect, makes an interest pre-payment of up to 50%.

Part of the ERC Fairtrade Project has encouraged the students of Year 10 of St. Mary’s Cathedral College Sydney, to form there own Social Justice Group. They are selling Fairtrade Products to the other students, teachers and parents, as well as raising awareness in the school about Fairtrade. By doing this the basic principles of fair trade has spread to the students of the whole school and their families.

Waverley College Sydney last year was among the schools which have chosen to purchase Fairtrade sports balls. These balls are of the top quality, and carry the “Fairtrade” logo which guarantees that no child labor in used in the production of these balls.

The ERC Project “BOUNCES’ (Buy One for Underprivileged Nations for Children’s Education and Sports) is designed to send quality sports balls overseas starting with Papa New Guinea. ‘Etiko’ Sports, the trading name of ESP Pty Ltd, has made the offer to ERC to provide one sports ball free of charge for each 10 balls purchased under this Scheme, and ERC has undertaken to ensure delivery and distribution to the young people of PNG.

It is hoped that these schemes will help to develop understanding of ‘Fairtrade”, and how it can affect the world we live in, and how it can improve staff and student morale, when they feel they are contributing to the support of poorer communities with every cup of coffee or tea they consume or sports ball used.

Purchase Fairtrade Goods

ERC is actively involved in buying and selling Fairtrade products, and has been supplying the staff rooms of larger Sydney schools with Fairtrade tea and coffee for some time. For more information on buying Fairtrade goods for your school, business or faith-group, please contact Danny Long at Edmund Rice Centre

• (02) 8762 4224
  
• or by email to dannyl [at] erc.org.au